Grab a cup of hot chocolate: It's time for this season's edition of the Alumni and Friends Quarterly Newsletter! Our latest issue contains delightful stories from around SSFS's campus and from your fellow alumni and friends.

This year—Sandy Spring Friends School's 60th anniversary—allows us a marvelous opportunity to look back and reflect on our change-making students in the past, and to look forward to all of the good that continues to come from each one of you. Establishing a school in the 1960s was a form of radical optimism, an against-the-current-wave pinned to the idea that change was, and is, possible in our society. In this, SSFS's 60th year, we hope you take a moment to reflect on the role of the School in your own life. We would love for you to share those reflections with us! Please reach out to us HERE: We are always happy to hear from you.

Despite the uncertainties of Covid, it's been a busy semester on campus—and our students and teachers are becoming experts at adjusting to Covid-necessitated restrictions. We continue to adapt as needed! Perhaps one shining example of our well-honed flexibility was the annual holiday assembly, held in the week before the winter break. As many of you will remember, that assembly has closed for many, many years with a raucous all-school singalong to "The Twelve Days of Christmas," with the members of each grade level singing the verse that corresponds to their grade. Since the student body could not gather inside, we came up with a creative solution to sing all together outside, amplifying the piano across the campus using the sound system. The students enthusiastically participated and created an unholy yet festive roar of sound across the entire Lower School sport court, up the quad, and over the field, rebounding off of the Performing Arts Center and Moore Hall. There is nothing quite like the echoing of "FIVE GOLDEN RINGS" across campus!

We hope the spirit of our cross-campus singalong reaches you during this holiday season. We love connecting with you, so please do continue to share your notes with us! Also, if you haven’t already made a gift to SSFS, we hope you’ll consider donating HERE during this time of giving.

Enjoy the stories brought to light this season! We wish you all the very best for a happy, healthy, and peaceful New Year.